Commentary: Olympic spirit shines in London, but with some noise

08:46, August 14, 2012

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- With the flame going out at the closing ceremony Sunday night, the 2012 London Summer Olympics wrapped up mostly in happiness and glory, but the Games also was disturbed by some sorts of controversy in and outside the sports arenas.

The 16-day event was dubbed by Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as "happy and glorious Games."

The Olympics turned out to be a success going far beyond the expectations of many Londoners and audiences around the world.

Athletes competed tensely under a global spotlight, turning in top-level performances and bringing enjoyment to all people watching. Many new world records, in the swimming pools, on the tracks, and elsewhere, were established as the athletes explored the frontiers of human speed, strength and physical beauty.

Some legendary stars sadly said goodbye, while many newcomers sprouted up vigorously and scored medals, successfully pursuing and realizing their Olympic dreams.

Athletes as well as Olympic visitors from different countries very well developed friendship and boosted mutual understanding at the Games.

However, this year's Olympics was, regretfully, also not short of disputes over biased media reports and debatable referee judgments that smeared the fair play spirit that the Olympics has upheld.

This was well exemplified by the experience of Ye Shiwen, a young Chinese swimmer who unexpectedly won two gold medals. Some Western media and coaches questioned her shining achievements, bluntly claiming she had doped. Official tests proved, however, that the accusations were completely groundless and false.

The Chinese women cyclists beat their German rivals in the team pursuit final, but their gold medal was relegated to second place by referees. The Chinese team reviewed the race video, finding it didn't violate any rules. The team has asked for reasons behind the move from the International Cycling Union and the IOC, but has never been given an answer.

Faced with such problems and faults, every party concerned should make more of an effort to hold more excellent sport events and better uphold the Olympic spirit by reducing stereotyped prejudices and referees' misjudgments and sticking to the spirit of fair play.

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mike at 2012-08-1687.83.230.*

Well said David. Every British official went out of their way to say that Ye Shiwen was innocent and that it was disgraceful that 1 US coach was questioning her. The Chinese media need to distinguish between the "Western" half of the world as the West is not one homogeneous group and can"t be categorised as such

Jim at 2012-08-15217.37.179.*

As David has mentioned, the accusation against Ye Shiwen was by one American coach and simply reported by the media. In fact, the Head of the British Olympic Assocation publicly stated that she was clean. Also, the Chinese cyclists were not the only team to be diaqualified. The British team were also disqualified in the same event. And in another cycling event, a British cyclist was harshly penalised.The Chinese were not the only athletes affected by poor officials and judges, who are appointed by the international governing bodies of each sport, and not by "The West".

David at 2012-08-1592.6.192.*

I feel that China has become too critical on London"s games. There was fair play in these games; just because the rules of fair play upset some Chinese athletes, such as the badminton pairs, does not mean their decision was unfair. In fact it was perfectly acceptable, they tried to win a match in a very unspirited manner without any "olympic spirit". It is also rude to generalise "Westerners" as a group of people who have a deep-rooted bias towards Chinese athletes because that is simply untrue. It was ONE American official who was skeptical towards the swimmer, no one else. Most "Westerners" don"t have a problem with China. It truly saddens me that the Chinese press are dampening the success of the games for their own sense of pride. Why does there have to be a competitive mentality between Beijing 2008 and London 2012? They were both fantastic in their own right and I really hope that Chinese people did actually enjoy the games as I did Beijing.

David at 2012-08-1592.6.192.*

I feel that China has become too critical on London"s games. There was fair play in these games; just because the rules of fair play upset some Chinese athletes, such as the badminton pairs, does not mean their decision was unfair. In fact it was perfectly acceptable, they tried to win a match in a very unspirited manner without any "olympic spirit". It is also rude to generalise "Westerners" as a group of people who have a deep-rooted bias towards Chinese athletes because that is simply untrue. It was ONE American official who was skeptical towards the swimmer, no one else. Most "Westerners" don"t have a problem with China. It truly saddens me that the Chinese press are dampening the success of the games for their own sense of pride. Why does there have to be a competitive mentality between Beijing 2008 and London 2012? They were both fantastic in their own right and I really hope that Chinese people did actually enjoy the games as I did Beijing.(I"m probably writing this is vain...the comment will probably be censored because I"m not allowed to express any views. I hope you do though, because I"m not trying to be controversial, I just want to be honest.)